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Nyasa Civilization
The Nyasa Civilization is an ancient civilization in the north eastern quadrant of The Southern Continent, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nornian Mountains in the Fertile Valley. The civilization coalesced around 3600 years before the First Age, and has survived, in one form or another, until the present day. With the political unification of Southern and Northern Nyasa under the (at that time, mortal) God-King Pelor marking the beginning of the First Age, it developed over the next five thousand years. Its history is a series of stable Kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods. Nyasa reached its pinnacle during the first years of the Second Age with the rise of St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel to the ruling hegemony, after which it entered a period of slow decline and interior conflict between the followers of Pelor and the followers of Cuthbert. Its lands are limited to the north by Celestalia, to the west by Volta, and to the south by Port Nyasa. Its capital is Nyasa City. Some other cities on The Southern Continent claim to be allied, but these cities have no official relation. Early History The success of Nyasian civilization stemmed partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nubian Sea. The predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which fueled social development and culture. With resources to spare, the leadership sponsored mineral exploitation of the valley and surrounding desert regions, the early development of an independent writing system based on Celestial but that later became the modern Common tongue, the organization of collective construction and agricultural projects, trade with surrounding regions, and a military intended to defeat the forces of evil and protect against monsters and invading species. Motivating and organizing these activities was a bureaucracy of elite clerics, religious leaders, and administrators under the control of a god-king who ensured the cooperation and unity of the people in the context of an elaborate system of religious beliefs. The many achievements of the ancient Nyasans include the quarrying, surveying and construction techniques that facilitated the building of monumental temples, dungeons, and obelisks; a system of arcane sciences, irrigation systems and agricultural production techniques, the first known ships, glass technology, new forms of poetry, and the earliest known university, The Caltris School. The First Kingdom The early Kingdoms were marred with internal strife. The northern kingdoms, located near modern day Volta, were ruled by a series of savage human kings whose rule was permissive, if particularly brutal. The southern kingdoms, located near the modern day capital, Nyasa City, were ruled by a caste of healing clerics, whose rule was undoubtedly good-intentioned, if misguidedly intrusive. Pelor of The First Kingdom When Pelor came down from the sun during the first years of the First Age, he led mighty angelic forces through the two kingdoms and united them under a benevolent fist. According to the official state history, Pelor ruled for several hundred years on a throne of pure Mythril before being subsumed into a veil of pure light on the 25th day of December, and progressing to Elysium to guide the sun in its orbit of the earth, a day now known as The Lightensain. His throne remained empty for over three thousand years, until it was taken up again by St. Cuthbert during the beginning of the Second Age. The Intermediate Period After Pelor left, his Kingdom continued through collective rule by a theocracy of the nation's most powerful clerics to the god. Choices were made collectively, and often the god was consulted directly through various angelic intermediaries. Failure to abide by the collective rulings was tantamount to treason. The Second Kingdom According to official state legend, St. Cuthbert rose to power in the early years of the Second Age when he was incarnated through a human woman impregnated miraculously by Pelor under a lone star on the steps of a temple in Malagassy. Cuthbert of The Second Kingdom Over his lifetime, he joined an adventuring group of twelve talented clerics, fighters, paladins, and rangers, fighting legendary evil creatures from hordes of Kobolds to Tiamat herself, god-queen of the evil dragons. When his gospel reached Nyasa City, he chased the merchants, tax-collectors, and magic-users out of the Temple on the Mount, performed several miracles including raising the dead, creating food and water, healing the sick, curing blindness, and removing other permanent status effects, all miracles repeated commonly by his worshipers ever since. His mortal enemy is Vecna, whom he cast out of Nyasa when he expelled the arcane magic users. After two hundred years of peaceful yet remarkably tyrannical rule, he was murdered by an agent of Vecna and ascended to rule Arcadia on a day known as The Injustinia, which is celebrated annually with a feast and reflective prayer on May 5th. Intermediate Period After Cuthbert was murdered, rivalry broke out between clerics that wanted to deify him and worship him equally alongside Pelor, and those who still considered Cuthbert a mortal who had merely ascended to godhood through gaining favor with the major gods. For the first few hundred years, Cuthbert was worshiped as the primary deity, leading to an eruption in art and science within the kingdom as well as a tenuous racial harmony with non-human races. Later, however, toward the modern era, the clerics of Pelor gained control due to fear of the growing power of the Victor Heronius kings in Malvont to the north and the known antitheist Barron Ganth in Goneril. Modern Nyasa Modern Nyasa is currently in an intermediate period, where rule is conducted by no one cleric, angel, or demigod in particular but by a theocracy of clerics. Current political favor rests with the church of Pelor, whose worship dominates the capital city. St. Cuthbert is worshiped to a lesser degree, and his followers often find refuge in cities toward the borderlands. Cults to other gods are mostly illegal. The clerics enforce a strict code of moral laws, forbidding, for example, sexual relations before wedlock, the practice of arcane or divine magic outside of official state grounds, and the production or consumption of intoxicating liquors. Women must wear a Tacitus, or traditional headband, which marks their married or virginal state, whenever out-of-doors. Category:Locations Category:Eon Mythos Category:Southern Continent Category:States